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The Canadian government should focus on making life better for the sick

Sun., June 5, 2016

Re: Medically assisted death debate about more than civil rights, June 3

Medically assisted death debate about more than civil rights, June 3

I have been regularly visiting relatives in a long-term-care facility for several years.

The relative I currently see is very dear to me and I love her completely. She is largely disabled from doing even the most private of functions for herself.

The facility she is in is considered by many to be one of the best. However, in recent times the care has been faltering. The food is not nearly as pleasant, the number of front-line workers seems to have diminished, and while the facility is clean enough, there are certain things about it that just don’t seem right.

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My relative receives a shower twice a week. She waits in bed for a personal support worker to get her ready in the morning and sometimes can wait until 11 a.m.

Many people in the facility have private care but it is costly and certainly beyond the means of many.

Of course the best place of all is home, but for the people warehoused in long-term-care facilities, that is a possibility beyond hope. For the most part, the residents of this facility lead solitary lives. While programming is available, meals are often eaten in silence and the overworked staff have little or no time for socializing.

Thomas Walkom in his excellent article laments that the debate around Bill C-14 does not “focus on measures that might persuade the sufferers to keep on living.” I have never discussed “voluntary euthanasia” or whatever the current euphemism is with my relative, nor will I. But it seems to me that the current state of our long-term care facilities is an invitation to persuade people to seek out the end of life immediately.

Certainly, when my turn comes, rather than be warehoused in one of those places I would exercise my right to die with dignity.

Stephen Bloom, Toronto

Thomas Walkom finally gives voice to what is troubling many disability rights activists in the frantic push to legislate assisted dying. What is the rush to expand who can qualify for assisted death? Where is the discussion about providing quality of life for people with disabilities? Why are we leaving questions about funding for palliative care to Conservative senators?

The left in Canada has been historically weak on disability rights, preferring to frame these issues in terms of charity. We need an expanded discussion about why disabled people, including those with dementia and hidden chronic illness, often feel pressure to end their lives. The wish to die is often linked to inadequate supports for daily living, poverty, stigma and social isolation. We must properly fund pain medication and palliative care, supports for independent living and disability support programs.

“Progressives” need to pay attention to the voices of disabled people in the assisted-dying debate, who often know firsthand about the perils of medical coercion. If not, a broadened assisted-dying bill could be passed, resulting in more vulnerable people being pressured to end their lives.

Helen Armstrong, Toronto

I’m so disappointed by this Liberal government’s obsession with assisting dying, so it was good to read Thomas Walkom’s article. Especially the words, “If government has any role in this life-and-death matter…it is to create conditions that would allow as many possible to keep on living.” Why this rush to hasten one’s death? You’re dead for a long time.

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